At the beginning of the month, I wrote about trying to decrease our monthly grocery budget in order to pay down the mortgage principal more quickly. Part of this involves meal planning and focused shopping.
Each weekend I think about the main dinner meals for the upcoming week. We have several staple main dishes that we rotate that are quick, easy, and liked by at least three members of our household (have I mentioned that p'tit minou deux is a rather picky eater?). Those include spaghetti with marinara sauce, garden burgers, enchilada casserole, homemade macaroni and cheese, burritos, homemade pizzas, and vegetable soup for the Parental Units (as the boys enjoyed calling Minou and I for a while).
Then we do a weekly grocery shopping, also making sure to have snacks (yogurt, fruit, baking ingredients), lunch materials (sandwich bread, carrots, cheese and peanut butter), breakfast food (generally rolled oats, raisins, nuts, cinnamon), and vegetables.
Last weekend I did not do a big grocery shopping, deciding that we would try to empty the cupboards first. And empty them we did. I don't think I've ever seen the fridge so empty at the end of the week. Success!
However, with two hungry teens in the house, I have to be careful not to let the pantry get too bare. It feels like a serious emergency when there is nothing quick to grab and eat. Explosions could ensue.
Yesterday, Minou did our big shopping for the week, and took seriously my maximum $100 spending request. I'm curious how we will do this week for further shopping, since we no longer have the back-of-the cupboard stores we once did. Don't worry, I will not forget the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables.
My challenge: we are almost, almost out of coffee (actually finished the real beans a week ago, and I've been drinking the Nescafe we bought for my mother-in-law).Coffee, my precious...my very favorite small luxury...
What would you do?
Buy more coffee, or go without?
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